00:04Wallets of many Europeans have taken a blow from the latest global energy shock.
00:09Fuel prices have jumped, and for many families, paying for electricity and heating has become a real struggle.
00:18But here in eastern Germany, one small town chose a different path.
00:23This is Feldheim, a village that decided to just walk away from fossil fuels and global energy markets altogether.
00:38The 130 residents of Feldheim pay three times less for their electricity than the average German consumer.
00:46All thanks to a local decision to pursue what they call energy self-sufficiency.
00:50Siegfried Kappert, who was born here 86 years ago, believes the town made the right call.
00:57Wir persönlich sind mit den neuen Sachen sehr zufrieden. Wir bezahlen für die Kilowattstunde zwölf Cent.
01:07Und das ist wirklich hervorzuheben. Da ist es natürlich eine ganz solide Sache, dass wir unsere eigene Energieversorgung auf die
01:20Beine stellen und dazu stehen.
01:24Kappert invites us to visit the windpark, just outside the village.
01:29Das ist eine 3-megawatt-turbine.
01:31Wenn wir ausstehen, sehen Sie einen wunderbaren Blick mit unserer Turbine an der Hand.
01:36Der Flaming Berlin hier etwas.
01:38Feldheim liegt 150 Meter über den Meeresspiel.
01:42Und daher sind wir ein wunderbares Windeinzugsgebiet.
01:47Bezins of wind turbines literally on their doorstep.
01:51Were some villagers against it?
01:53Kappert says there were questions but no real objections.
01:57Residents, farmers and landowners all gone behind the idea.
02:08Kappert, a retired electrical fitter, is well used to give in windpark tours.
02:13Visitors come from all over the world.
02:16From curious neighbors to foreign heads of state.
02:18Hier sehen Sie die Windgeschwindigkeit, die heute herrscht.
02:22Das ist die Flühebewegung.
02:25Und im Moment produziert sie 370 kW mit dieser Windstärke.
02:36Wir wollen ja ein Gesamtproduzent sein, wie ein Kraftwerk.
02:40Und hier sind die Anlagen hier aufgebaut worden, weil die Möglichkeit hier bestand und die Genehmigung alles hier vorlagen.
02:50And it powers far more than just this village.
02:57All these wind turbines produce 250 times the amount of electricity Feldheim actually needs.
03:05The rest is sold to the national grid.
03:07And it's not the only renewable energy source around here.
03:13Most of the heating for the town, for example, comes from the local fields.
03:19This field, right between the turbines, is being seeded with corn.
03:23Once it grows, it will be used as the main feedstock for Feldheim's biogas plant.
03:29Another pillar of the village's energy self-sufficiency, built by farmer Werner Schlünke.
03:36We need to have the amount of corn here.
03:43Corn silage mixed with rye and manure produces biogas that drives an electric generator,
03:49delivering electricity and providing affordable heating to every household in the village.
03:55The plant is co-owned by local residents.
03:58And for the farmers, it provides a welcome buffer when agricultural markets take a downturn.
04:08The price of our products, especially potatoes and sugar,
04:14were so much in the cellar, that it was to produce for us, it was to produce.
04:19And so we decided to do biogasanlage, we need the corn.
04:24In the land, on the free-geworded areas, we need the corn.
04:28We also need the personnel, and we will come in the rentability zone.
04:37But what if the biogas plant goes down for maintenance?
04:42The village has a backup, a modern wood-chip boiler.
04:46And nearby, a former Soviet military site has been turned into a large solar park.
04:55This flexible energy mix has become a textbook example of local-level energy transition.
05:03The town welcomes several school groups every week.
05:14The children come here to experience what is special in Feldheim.
05:17And they can experience the renewable energy through experiments and facilities.
05:24Because it's interesting to me, because it's our future.
05:29Because renewable energy is a very important topic.
05:35A big step for a small village.
05:38But could it work elsewhere?
05:39The mayor of the municipality is confident it can,
05:43and that others, with enough open-mindedness, can follow suit.
05:47So, Mayor, the energy independence of this place, what do you think of it?
05:52Is it real?
05:53Is it sustainable?
05:54Can it be reproduced?
05:55Yeah, it's absolutely real.
05:57We can use it here.
05:58We can use it here.
05:59We can use it here.
06:00Wind, sun, biogas work together.
06:05It's completely autark.
06:08It's really something to use it.
06:10It's really real.
06:12Making it all work took some creative thinking, including building an entirely new electrical grid,
06:18when the big utility companies refused to play ball.
06:21But for Michael Rashman, the head of the energy company behind the project,
06:25it proves that at this scale energy self-sufficiency is not just possible, it's essential.
06:30These small villages like Feldheim live in a positive sense, if they can participate directly from this energy source,
06:41other than large cities, which have no chance to protect themselves.
06:50Feldheim didn't stop there.
06:52It has since added a massive 10-megawatt battery storage facility, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund,
07:00which helps keep the local grid stable, whatever the weather.
07:06It was important to us to set this sign that it is going and that it is also economic,
07:12that it is going to be able to go this way,
07:13so that from the field, directly to the houses,
07:17the energy is immediately fast and that it can be very cheap.
07:24Feldheim's success was built on many factors.
07:26A good location, a small and close-knit community willing to think differently,
07:30visionary investors and support from national and European policy.
07:35It may not be a model that works everywhere,
07:38but it is a real living example of energy self-reliance,
07:42one that is well and truly made in Europe.
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